There are a ton of great shiny Pokemon, but there are also a ton of terrible ones. Shiny Pokemon can be bad regardless of their typing — one type does not result in worse shinies than another — but the Normal-type has quite a few bad shinies, simply as a result of how many Normal-type Pokemon there are in general.
Sure, some Normal-type Pokemon boast great shinies, like Chatot, Zangoose, and Drampa. But, unfortunately, the same cannot be said for their peers. Whether they’re downright ugly or just extremely disappointing, here are some of the worst Normal-type shinies.
10 Arceus
As the closest thing to a creator god in the entire Pokemon universe, Arceus is an epic and powerful Pokemon with an important role in the series’ lore. It’s said that Arceus created everything and existed when there was nothing.
It’s no surprise, then, that Arceus is a brilliant stark-white — a color usually chosen to depict heavenly creatures. How cool would it be, then, if shiny Arceus took on a contrasting black or dark grey? This would be similar to how Mega Gardevoir dons a jet-black dress to counter her white wedding-dress like normal coloring. But alas, shiny Arceus is just a strange, unappealing yellowish-beige.
9 Deerling
Another Pokemon with fantastic shiny potential that just wastes it is Deerling in all four of its seasonal forms. One of the most interesting concepts for a Pokemon in recent years went to Deerling, which changes its coloring and design based on the season — being pink in spring, green in summer, orange in autumn, and brown in winter.
When shiny, though, Deerling’s coloring barely changes in any of its forms. It would have been so great to see each seasonal form take on another coloring, like a crystal blue for winter, red for autumn, and so on.
8 Ursaring
One of the most polarizing shinies of all time is Ursaring. Some people absolutely love its neon, radioactive green coloring, while others absolutely despise it. Ursaring is part of a group of early-generation shinies that take on this strange bright green coloring, like Tauros, Espeon, and more.
Regardless of whether you love it or hate it, Ursaring is a very aggressive color when shiny, and it’s easy to see why so many hate it.
7 Buneary
Buneary, the Normal-type rabbit Pokemon from Generation IV, is one of those Pokemon with a bad shiny as a result of its normal coloring combining with something awful. There’s nothing wrong with pink shinies, but pink and brown together is pretty terrible.
Buneary suffers from this because it retains the main brown portion of its color palette, but swaps out the nice creamy beige for hot pink. It’s just not a nice combination.
6 Chansey
While some of the classic early-gen green shinies are aggressively neon like Ursaring, others have a strange, pale green that makes them look sickly or unwell. Chansey is one of these shinies, swapping its nice pink coloring for a palette of garish beige with unattractive green detailing.
The irony is rich, here, as Chansey is frequently depicted as a nurse-like Pokemon, serving in Pokemon Centers and as a regular companion and helper to Nurse Joy. Perhaps it picked something contagious up at work.
5 Blissey
Chansey has a terrible shiny, but, its evolution, Blissey, also belongs on this list — just for a different reason. While Chansey adopts a terrible sickly green-and-beige, Blissey doesn’t seem to change at all. At least Chansey looks different from its normal coloring.
Blissey has long been held up alongside Garchomp and Gengar as an example of a shiny variant that is almost indecipherable from its normal coloring. It’s not necessarily ugly, it’s just extremely disappointing.
4 Persian
Joining Blissey, Garchomp, Gengar, and too many others for a completely unchanged shiny is poor Persian, introduced all the way back in Generation I. This unfortunate cat Pokemon also seems almost indecipherable between its two colorings.
Since it’s commonly held as an evil Pokemon (both for its selfish, lazy nature and as a companion to Team Rocket leader Giovanni), it would have been great to see Persian take on an “evil” coloring, like black, red, or even a dark purple.
3 Skitty
Some Pokemon have counterparts, and when they’re shiny, they swap colors. Take, for example, the Nidoran families. With the exception of Nidoqueen, the female line takes on the male line’s colors and vice versa. This can also happen with evolutionary families, like Meditite and Medicham, who swap colors when shiny.
The same should have been true for Skitty and Delcatty, but, unfortunately, it only happens in one direction. Delcatty takes on Skitty’s beige-and-pink coloring, but Skitty itself just becomes a lighter pink.
2 Watchog
In Generation V, it seems there are a lot more neon colors and random colors paired together in the Pokemon’s shiny forms than in previous generations. Take, for example, Emboar, which is a fun mishmash of blue, orange, and purple.
Unfortunately, this can be a detriment to some Pokemon too. Watchog is a great example of this. Normally, Watchog is a cool maroon and yellow.
However, when it’s shiny, Watchog’s yellow line pattern turns bright neon green. This neon coloring against a maroon background is repulsive and a little strange. It kind of looks like a crossing guard vest. Its pre-evolution, Patrat, is much better.
1 Dodrio
Terrible green shinies dominated this list, so it’s only right that they take the top spot as well. Dodrio, the Normal/Flying-type from Generation I, trades in its natural brown coloring for a strange mint green.
It’s not as visually-offensive as some of the other green shinies that exist, but it isn’t exactly nice, either. And, if it had been done manually, you could have made it so all three heads are different colors, so it’s a missed opportunity, too.
NEXT: 10 Mythical Pokemon That Are More Impressive Than Legendaries (According To Lore)
